Vol.3: Floating Isles
Vol.3: Floating Isles is the 3rd installment of Matvakama's Story of Darkspore, preceded by Raid of the Nexus and followed by New Blood. Cozem decides to move in on the seemingly least secured sector of Zelem's Nexus: the Floating Isles. Plot As the Starbird approaches Zelem's Nexus, Cozem tries to find a way to infiltrate the Nexus' Shield Ring without destroying the marvellous construction. HELIX, upon the Crogenitor's request, creates a holographic map over the remains of Nakto inside the giant torus. Cozem tries to figure out a way to start his liberation campaign, while HELIX's main priority became the restoration of Ability genomes present in all Genetic Heroes. While still on that, HELIX, via the Starbird, scans the Nexus to create a list of all Darkspore present currently in the galaxy. The AI also remarks, that Darkspore can evolve through use of the E-DNA virus, gaining more durability, strength and speed during the process. The scan of the Nexus completes, adding over 20 different species into the Darkspore archive. HELIX also segregates them after class. Cozem however, only studies the map, trying the find the region least secured by the Darkspore. He eventually picks the northern regions of Zelem's Nexus: the Floating Isles. HELIX immediately provides a list of dominant Darkspore in the sector. She notes that the more a Darkspore species evolves, the more adaptable it is to different climates, explaining why only Class-3 Darkspore can survive on all planets, with Class-2 being next. The most popular Darkspore troops, Class-1, are only suited to their respective homeworlds or have adapted to endure several other climates, but not changing their abilities at any grade at all. While Cozem and the HELIX were discussing strategy, Genetic Heroes prepared. All five go through extensive training in the Simulation Chamber, hightening difficulty settings over time. After the 12th round, they're too tired to continue, so they exit. Sage however decides to have a target practice, going to the shooting range below. After merely ten minutes, Cozem sounds up a message: the Genetic Heroes were to go to the middle deck immediately. Once there, Cozem implants them with minuscule microphones, earphones and cameras in order to view their progress, letting him see what they see, hear what they hear and provide communication, while they are on the planet. Deeming their refitting complete, the Crogenitor and the five Heroes go to the Nav for debriefing. Cozem quickly supplies them with tactics and other tips, reminding them that they all will be in touch, when they reach the ground. HELIX then creates a holographic projection of the six dominant Class-1 Darkspore on the Floating Isles, describing them in a rush. The heroes then use the Starbird's teleporter to beam down to the sector. When the five heroes reach the surface, HELIX provides intel. The Floating Isles were the place, where Zelem collected Zelemi for his experiments. This sector was the birthplace of Zelem's Elite squad of Living Weapons called the "Quantum Armada". When they reach a larger isle, the Darkspore discover them and attack. Squadrons of Cannonators are swiftly disposed of by the Sentinel trio, while Blitz made short work of Space Barracudas. However, fate put more obstacles on their course. After clearing a bunch of Hasters and Invincitrons, five Operative-Rank Darkspore surround the group. The five Gravitic Confiners lock all Heroes, slowly draining them of life. Just as they are about to die, three creatures launch a surprise attack on the Operatives, saving the Heroes at the last minute. Sage and Wraith recognize two of the strangers, but soon all eight Heroes are beamed aboard the Starbird. On board the ship , HELIX identifies all three of the newcomers: the spider-like creature is Arakna, the Soul Collector, a Necro Ravager. The four-armed insectoidal biped is Viper, the Toxic Ravager, a Biogenetic Ravager. The last hero identified is Vex, the Chrono-Shifter, a Quantum Ravager hailing from Zelem's Nexus. The three Ravagers board the Starbird, where Cozem augments them with stabilized E-DNA and beams them back to the Floating Isles. Vex explains his story: he's been stuck on the Nexus, ever since a Crogenitor named Lenis appointed him to monitor it and engage the Darkspore in guerilla warfare. After spending centuries in the Nexus, living off the mutants he killed, he discovered, that unstable E-DNA somehow "enhanced" the taste of mutant meat, prompting him to hunt the Darkspore not just to slow their progress, but also for meat. After several centuries of hunting, he stumbled across Arakna, who was half-dead from her wounds. He quickly befriended her, even though she was slightly brutal at times. Later on, they eventually met Viper, who claimed he was sent here with a squadron of Heroes by a Crogenitor, but a Darkspore ambush killed all of his squad-mates and destroyed the Crogenitor ship, that was his source of transportation. Thus, all three were stuck on Zelem's Nexus... until they met the Insurgency. Cozem, seeing as they were more experienced in dealing with the native Darkspore than his troops, decided to hear what they knew. Since Vex is an indigenous lifeform of Zelem's Nexus, he was the one who knew the Quantum Darkspore the most. That was why Vex stayed aboard the Starbird to brief Cozem on developments in the Nexus, while Arakna and Viper would assist the Insurgency on its warpath. Characters Genetic Heroes: Blitz, Wraith, Goliath, Sage, Zrin, Viper, Arakna, Viper Darkspore: Simulated Darkspore, Cannonators, Space Barracudas, Hasters, Invincitrons, Gravitic Confiners Other: Crogenitor Cozem, HELIX Quotes : "The Floating Isles were once the foundation of the singularity array, where for centuries, Crogenitor Zelem collected spciemens for Quantumgenesis experimentation. Zelem was the leader of opposition to experimentation with E-DNA. He long forewarned, that large-scale Darkspore outbreaks would put all galactic life in peril." : - HELIX giving us a hint to the backstory of the sector. : Sage: "Pretty nice of Darkspore to come to their deaths! They're really making it easy for us." : Zrin: "Shut up and SHOOT!!" : Goliath: "More Cannonators, 12 o'clock!" : Wraith: "I'm on it." : - Unlike cartoons and movies, this is, technically, real-life mid-battle team-speak. : Blitz: "I... can't move." : Zrin: "Pretty obvious, if you're trapped. I feel for ya." : Sage: "We have a bigger problem. We're isolated from the atmosphere... which means that we're gonna suffocate." : - Well, Sage at least is able to describe how it is being trapped by an Operative. : Wraith and Arakna: "You." : Zrin: "What's with those two?" : - That's a good question, Zrin. Trivia *This installment is preceded by Raid of the Nexus and succeeded New Blood. *The E-DNA mutation caused Darkspore not only to mutate, but also evolve. If the Darkspore gained that evolution, it evolved into a stronger, faster and more durable version of its kind. This type of evolution could occur only twice. This also increases the class of the Darkspore's bio-signature. *There are 3 classes of rating Darkspore bio-signatures, each corresponding to the stages of Darkspore evolution: Class 1 (Onslaught), Class 2 (Invasion) and Class 3 (Apocalypse). *Many heroes from the same planet seem to know each other, probably because of interactions with other Genetic Heroes even before the Mutation Wars. *All five Operative-rank Darkspore have different ways to capture and kill Heroes. The way Gravitic Confiners do that is to create a quanto-gravitic energy field, which takes form of a glowing sphere, trapping the hero inside it. There, the target is isolated from the planetary atmosphere, suffocating it. After a while, the gravitic energies of the spheres kick in, fragmenting Heroes piece by piece, slowly disintegrating them. Definitely not a pretty way to die. Category:Darkspore Category:Fiction Writing Category:Story of Darkspore